


The perfect swap

by trolla22



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Christmas, Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, Inspired by The Holiday (2006), M/M, Strangers to Lovers, house swapping
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-12 05:48:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29380200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trolla22/pseuds/trolla22
Summary: During festive season, two strangers decide to swap houses for two weeks.One person living in a fancy, modern apartment in the middle of New York City. And one person living in a small cozy cottage in Guildford.How will things turn out when the two strangers live a very different life than they are used to.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Liu Yang Yang, Mark Lee/Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas
Comments: 5
Kudos: 25





	1. Part I

**Author's Note:**

> This story is inspired by the (Christmas) movie The Holiday (2006). For the sake of this story, let’s pretend that Covid19 does not exist - which I really wish it didn’t. This story will be told from two different perspectives; Yukhei’s and Haechan’s, and will focus on their respective lives. I will alternate between the two perspectives. This will be clearly indicated throughout the story.

_14 December 2020 - London, England_

It was honestly amazing how he manages to go on bad date after bad date. Haechan was walking towards his car whilst texting Mark, his best friend and confidant, about the disastrous date he just had. He didn’t know what it was but for the last few months, every guy he went on a date with turned out to be a complete arsehole. This guy he just went on a date with was no different. Throughout the whole date, he was only talking about himself and didn’t ask even _one_ question about Haechan’s life. On top of that, he treated the servers like dog shit, which is always a huge red flag to him. He had to cut the date short, lying that he suddenly got an emergency text from his work. He really couldn’t bear sitting there for another few hours listening to the guy boosting about himself. He really deserved a prize for putting up with this guy for two hours. The guy was even worse than the previous one. And that one was cheating on his husband - what Haechan of course didn’t know, otherwise he would never go on a date with him. He was sighing to himself, ‘Maybe I should just give up on dating and become a dog mom,’ he thought. And while he was driving home, all he could think about was how nice it would be to be somewhere else. Somewhere far away, something completely different from Guildford or even London.

_15 December 2020 - Guildford, England_

Haechan was sitting at his dining table, drinking his morning coffee and eating breakfast. He could barely sleep last night, his thoughts about going somewhere far away keeping him up all night. He knew he wanted to get away, and perhaps the holidays could be a good excuse to actually put his plans into action. He was allowed a two-and-a-half week vacation from work, so perhaps he could actually go spend it somewhere else instead of staying home for those weeks. He thought about an advert he saw a few weeks ago. It was an advert for a house-swapping website. People from all over the world could put their houses available on the website. Then, people could contact others to swap their houses for a particular amount of time, and if both parties agreed, they would be staying in each others’ houses. It was a nice and fresh idea, and Haechan had to admit, he was quite intrigued. So, that is how he found himself scrolling on the house-swapping website for hours. There were too many houses, and he didn’t know where to start. He wasn’t picky, he was fine as long as he was far away from here. He decided that since he had a hard time picking a place, he would just put up an advert for his house instead. He would just swap houses with the first person to contact him, with the condition that it was somewhere far away. He decided that if nobody would contact him before the 19th of December, he would just randomly pick a house and hope that that person would agree to swap houses with him.

* * *

_15 December 2020 - New York City, United States of America_

Yukhei was tired, and not just because of work but because of _everything_. He just got home after another long day packed with photoshoots. Being an up-and-coming model was not easy and definitely not as glamorous as everyone thinks it is. But nonetheless, he was still extremely grateful to be able to do what he loves. It was nearing Christmas and quite frankly, he was dreading it. The past few years he had always spent the holidays with his ex-boyfriend, Hendery, but their break-up also meant that he had nothing planned for the holidays, and thus would most likely be spending it alone. He knew for a fact that his other friends would be spending the holidays with either their family, or their significant other. He unfortunately didn’t have that privilege - with all of his family living on the other side of the world and Hendery no longer being in his life. He thought that perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad. He could just spend Christmas in his apartment, cuddled up with his dog Bella and maybe watching some sappy Christmas movie. But the closer the festive day came, the more nervous he would get. Seeing the Christmas spirit plastered all over New York City definitely didn’t help either, nor did all the loving couples around him.

_17 December 2020 - New York City, United States of America_

He was just casually lying in bed watching another episode of Prison Break when an idea suddenly stuck him. ‘What if I get out of town for the holidays. Maybe I could go to LA. Or maybe I could even go out of the country’. Yangyang had told him about some house-swapping website that apparently had been very popular amongst travellers lately. Maybe he could check that out. Taking a peek wouldn’t hurt right? The website offered many options in many continents. ‘Where do I want to go?’, he thought, ‘Europe maybe? I’ve always wanted to visit Europe. In which countries do they speak English? Probably all countries, but the safest bet would still be England’. With that thought, he found himself typing England into the search engine. Over three thousand hits came up, so he decided to filter the results. ‘Somewhere nearby London would be nice. Close to the big city, but not too crowded itself,’ he thought to himself, before filtering the results to London and surrounding cities.

After a good hour and a half of scrolling through the houses, he suddenly stopped. It was a beautiful white cottage with red roof tiles. It was surrounded with a few trees and multiple flowers and plants were lined up at the front of the house. It looked so serene. So calm and comforting. For some reason it pulled him in, almost like it casted a magic spell on him. The house was located in Guildford, England. It was pretty close to London, just a little less than an hour away. He quickly looked up Guildford on Google to get an idea of how the city looked like. It looked like a nice, cozy city. It had a nice main city, but it also had a lot of nature surrounding it. One thing was for sure, it was very different from New York City. He decided to just go for it and contacted the person from the cottage, whose name was listed as Haechan.

_‘Hi, my name is Yukhei. I just saw the advert for your house and I was wondering if you were interested in swapping houses with me. I currently live in New York City in an apartment located in the middle of the city. If you’re interested I would love to hear from you. Thanks in advance!’_

* * *

_18 December 2020 - Guildford, England_

It was currently 10am in the morning and he was just having his breakfast. He was reading through his email when he suddenly saw the email from the stranger. Haechan honestly didn’t expect to have someone interested in his house so soon already. Yukhei, as the stranger was named, lived in New York City. He had always wanted to visit America. A few years ago, he once almost went with his then boyfriend, but they broke it off before their trip. And he promised himself that he would agree to the first person to contact him, just as long as it was far away. New York was undoubtedly far away from his little cottage in Guildford. So that is how he found himself typing away.

_‘Hi Yukhei. My name is Haechan, and I’m certainly interested in swapping houses with you! When would you like to swap houses and for how long? Me and my house are available starting tomorrow until the third of January 2021. I’d love to hear from you.’_

‘There is no turning back now,’ he thought as he was about the press the send button. Immediately after he hit send, he closed his laptop, too nervous and still not believing that this was actually happening. He decided to take a walk instead, hoping to distract himself.

When he returned after three hours - he decided to visit the town as well - he opened his laptop and found a reply from Yukhei asking if it was possible for him to start swapping houses tomorrow until January third. Haechan was taken aback, not expecting that the stranger wanted to swap so soon already. Was he ready to swap tomorrow? Did he need more time to think it through? After thirty minutes of thinking, he finally decided ‘Fuck it, I should just live a little. I knew that this could happen so why am I still worrying about it’. He grabbed his laptop to reply to Yukhei, saying that he agreed and that they would swap houses for almost two weeks starting tomorrow. ‘I have to pack,’ he thought, already making a list of the items he would need to bring. He was feeling giddy, overthrown by the sudden rush of adrenaline. ‘It’s really happening. I’m really going to New York’ he thought while he was grabbing stuff to pack.


	2. Part II

_19 December 2020 - London Heathrow Airport (LHR), England_

It was currently 7am and Haechan had just arrived at the airport. He didn’t get much sleep last night, since he still had to pack almost everything. Moreover, after exchanging numbers, he and Yukhei were constantly texting each other. They gave each other instructions on how to get to their houses from the airport; they gave each other recommendations on where to go and where to eat; Yukhei also asked him to take care of his dog Bella; et cetera. And even if Haechan would somehow be finished with packing early, he probably wouldn’t be able to get much sleep either. Knowing him, he would be too excited and giddy to sleep.

He was mentally going through his list again, making sure that he brought everything he needed. ‘You’ve got everything, Haechan. Don’t worry too much. And even if you forgot something, you can probably buy it somewhere. I mean it’s New York,’ he was mentally giving himself a pep-talk. This was the first time he did something so spontaneous, something so unlike him. So naturally it scared him, but perhaps in a good way. He was actually going out of his comfort zone, traveling all by himself to an unfamiliar country.

He still had a few more hours left until he had to catch his flight. After checking in and going through customs, he decided that it was a good time to grab some coffee and breakfast. Heathrow Airport was a big airport, so there was plenty to do to kill the time. It was packed at the airport, it was even more busy than usual. That should come as no surprise really, considering that it is close to the holidays. Everyone was probably flying out to see their families or loved ones. This was also very noticeable in the price of the plane tickets. Haechan could literally hear his heart shatter when he bought his plane tickets. He figured it was all right though, since he wouldn’t have to pay anything for accommodation.

It was 9am and Haechan was currently sitting at his gate. There was already a line for first andbusiness class passengers and soon economy class would be able to board. In just an hour he would be boarding the plane and they would be on their way to New York. His flight was a direct one, so all he had to do was sit in the plane for a little over eight hours. He did the calculations beforehand and came to the conclusion that once he landed, it would be 1pm in New York. He figured that he would be too jet lagged to actually do something, so he didn’t make any plans for today besides resting.

_19 December 2020 - New York City, America_

After a tiring eight hour flight, he finally arrived in America. Yukhei had texted him yesterday that his personal driver could pick him up from the airport if he needed. He was extremely grateful - and also a little flabbergasted that he had a personal driver - and gladly took up on his offer. That way he could also save some money on a taxi or Uber. It was cliché really when he saw a suited up man holding up a white paper with ‘Mr. Haechan’ written on it at arrivals. It felt as if he was in a badromcom movie, waiting for his lover to pick him up. ‘Hi, you must be Yukhei’s personal driver. I’m Haechan. Nice to meet you. And also, thank you so much for picking me up from the airport,’ he said, all in one breath whilst holding out his hand for the older man. ‘Hello Mr. Haechan, my name is Edward and I am indeed Mr. Wong’s personal driver. It is nothing really, no need to thank me,’ the old man smiled, whilst shaking his hand. ‘Let me help you with your luggage,’ the man said, already pushing the luggage towards the car, even before Haechan could decline.

After approximately an hour of driving, they stopped in front of a high building. ‘We have arrived Mr. Haechan,’ the driver said, looking at him from his rear view mirror. When he looked outside of the window, he was blown away. The building was extremely high, and full of windows. It was like one of these building you’d see in Hollywood movies or fragrance adverts, but would never expect them to be real. ‘The view must be beautiful up there,’ he thought. ‘Thank you so much for the help Edward. I am eternally grateful to you. Oh and please, just call me Haechan,’ he said to the driver, before walking towards the entrance of the building. ‘It was my pleasure. This is my number, you can always call me when you need someone to drive you around. Enjoy your time here,’ the man smiled, giving him a little business card with his number and info on it.

He finally arrived at the 15th floor, still amazed at the interior of the building. ‘If the building already looks like this, then how must the apartment look,’ he wondered. After he found the correct apartment, he ticked in the password that Yukhei gave him earlier. Once he stepped foot inside the apartment, he couldn’t believe his eyes. The first thing he saw straight in front of him, were ceiling-high windows all over, showing the breathtaking sight of New York. He couldn’t admire the view for long though, since he was pulled out of his trance by some distant barking. It was then that he remembered that Yukhei had a dog named Bella. The dog quickly came in sight, running towards him probably thinking that he was her boss. ‘Hey there little one. You must be Bella,’ he cooed before picking her up. With Bella in his arms, he further explored the apartment. It was truly a beautiful apartment. The living room was straight ahead of the hallway. It was surrounded by ceiling-high windows, allowing him the sight of a bustling New York City. The colour palette of the living room was mainly brown, white and beige. There was a big chandelier and a huge ass television just in front of the couches. There were some beautiful art pieces that decorated the living room.

The room next to the living room was the kitchen and dining room. There was also a mini bar and Haechan could spot some bowls for Bella just in the corner of the kitchen. He opened another door which led him to the bathroom. The bathroom was in a beautiful black and grey colour, giving it a very elegant vibe. There was a waterfall shower and a bathtub that he knew he would be using later. The next room he opened was a little study. It had a few bookcases filled with books and a huge fire place in front of the desk. The last room he opened was the master bedroom. There was a king-sized bed that looked like it would be the softest bed ever. Moreover, the bedroom was connected to a walk in closet with the most amazing, flamboyant clothes he had ever laid eyes on. ’Wow,’ he thought after he finished looking through the whole apartment. ‘I can’t believe I actually get to stay here for the next two weeks. It feels like I’m a celebrity or something,’ he thought, grinning to himself. He decided then that he would get some sleep before going out and explore the neighbourhood a little bit.

After he woke up from a nice nap, he decided that he would explore a little bit with Bella. He had to walk Bella anyways, so this would be a great opportunity to look around the neighbourhood. He took out his phone and he saw multiple missed calls and text messages from Mark. It was then that he realised that he forgot to inform Mark about this whole situation. 'I'll just text Mark later. He's probably at work anyways,' he thought before calling out for Bella. 

After a few hours of walking around the neighbourhood, he finally decided to go back to the apartment and have some dinner. He really was in no mood to cook right now, so he figured it was best to order some food. He could never go wrong with pizza right? After finishing his food and cleaning up the kitchen, he put on a new Netflix movie. After realising that he still hadn't texted Mark back, he quickly shot back a text message explaining where he was right now. It was probably in the middle of the night in England right now, but Mark can read it in the morning. Nothing too bad could have happened since Mark hadn't texted or called him anymore. If it really was an emergency, Mark would have called him non-stop, which wasn't the case now. It was almost 9:30pm now and although he found it still too early to go to bed, he was feeling really tired now. He decided to just go to bed early and call it a day. 

* * *

_19 December 2020 - John F Kennedy International Airport (JFK), New York, America_

Yukhei had everything packed and ready. Enough to keep him warm in the cold winter of England. His suitcases were currently being put in the trunk of his car by his personal driver who would be driving him to the airport today. His flight would leave on 9am, so he had to wake up early today. It wasn’t anything he wasn’t used to though, with all the hectic schedules he has as a model. He kissed his little princess Bella goodbye before getting into the car to leave to JFK.

It was 7:30am when he arrived at the airport. He was pushing his luggage to check them in whilst holding his coffee in one hand. As a model, he luckily had enough money to splurge a little on the plane ticket. He wanted to fly in comfort for the next eight hours, so he made sure to buy a first class ticket. At times like this he was glad that he wasn’t that well-known yet, which made it possible for him to travel freely without anyone recognising him.

Once he finally went through customs and had some breakfast, he decided that he would be resting at the private area. He had a little less than an hour before he had to board, so he decided to do some research on Guildford. He pulled out his MacBook and started to type down some places he wanted to go or see in Guildford. Haechan had given him some recommendations, so he made sure to add those to his list as well. Before he knew, it was announced that he could board his plane. He made sure to save his document before putting his laptop away and boarding the plane.

_19 December 2020 - London Heathrow Airport (LHR), England_

After a comfortable eight hour flight, the plane finally touched down at the English grounds. Yukhei had been to England, specifically London, once before, so this was no new territory to him. He only stayed in London for one day though, so he couldn’t say that he had actually seen anything from the city. It was for a photoshoot he had a few years back. He did like the vibes of England though, so coming back to it, for a holiday this time, was actually a nice feeling. He took the train to Guildford, which would take approximately an hour. This would mean that he would be arriving at Guildford at around 11pm. He decided that it would be best if he would buy some takeaway to eat during his train journey. Luckily for him, Haechan lived pretty nearby the Guildford train station. He would just call an Uber or taxi which would take max 10 minutes.

_19 December 2020 - Guildford, England_

After the train journey and the short Uber ride, he finally stood in front of the beautiful house he had seen online. It looked even more fairytale-like in real life than it did on the pictures. He wondered if the interior was as whimsical and fairylike as the exterior. As per Haechan’s instructions, he walked around to the back of the house and looked for a loose tile just next to the little bird bath. He found it quite easily, and took the key out to open the front door.

After entering the house, he was amazed by how much it matched the exterior. He didn’t know what he was expecting, but it sure was even better than what he could hope for. The house looked extremely cozy and comfortable. The colour palette was nature-like, with lots of autumn colours. There was a lot of brown and wood in the house, and hints of beige, red and yellow. It was as if he just stepped into autumn itself. Even the smell of the house reminded him of his favourite season. This was just what he needed. ‘Alright, let’s just get ready for the night and go to bed early. I’ll explore Guilford tomorrow morning,’ he thought to himself.

After finishing his nighttime routine, he finally got in bed. Just as he was about to drift away, he heard someone yelling and slamming on the front door. ‘Haechan! I know you’re home, the neighbours said that you got home earlier! Why didn’t you answer my phone-calls and texts! I swear to god, open the damn door Haechan!’ the stranger said whilst banging on the door. With a grunt, Yukhei got out of bed to open the front door. When he opened the door, he was met with a mad, but a very cute, boy wrapped up in a thick winter coat and red scarf. His nose was all red, probably due to the cold British weather.

‘Who the fuck are you? Where the hell is Haechan? Oh my god, were you two like, you know, umm.. busy? Oh damn, I’m sorry. I didn’t know that Haechan was having someone over. I’ll just leave you two alone. Sorry again, just please tell Haechan to text me back,’ the stranger said in one breath, obviously embarrassed.

‘Um, hi? No! Haechan and I were not having sex or anything. In fact, he isn’t even here. We just swapped houses for two weeks. So, I’ll stay in his house whilst he stays in my house in New York. Didn’t he tell you?’ he replied to the stranger. 

‘What the fuck? No he did not tell me actually. I’ve been texting him all evening but he hasn’t responded to any of my texts. Anyway, I’m Mark. Haechan’s supposedly best friend. Nice to meet you,’ Mark huffed, holding out his hand for him to shake.

‘Cute,’ he thought. ‘Thanks, Mr. Handsome,’ Mark grinned at him. ‘Oh shit, did I really say that out loud?’ he responded to Mark, who nodded at him with a small smile.

‘Anyway, I’m Yukhei. Nice to meet you Mark. And don’t be too upset, Haechan and I decided literally just yesterday to swap houses. I’m sure it just slipped his mind to text you about it,’ he explained to Mark whilst taking his hand to shake it.

‘Nice to meet you too. And you’re probably right. Knowing Haechan, he is most likely sleeping right now or too busy exploring New York. Anyway, I think I should just go now and let you rest. Sorry for disturbing you. Good night, Yukhei,’ Mark said with a smile, already turning around to leave.

‘No please, don’t be sorry. You didn’t disturb me at all. You can also stay here if you want. I mean, it’s pretty late already. And maybe we could do what you thought me and Haechan were doing,’ he said with a smirk. Curse him and his wild thoughts. He couldn’t help it though, the boy in front of him was the definition of his type. It wouldn’t hurt to shoot his shot, right? When he saw Mark reddening, he suddenly became aware that he didn’t even know whether Mark was into boys or not. He just assumed, since Haechan apparently was. ‘Oh shit, I’m sorry. I don’t even know if you’re into guys or not. Sorry for assuming. Just forget what I said earlier,’ he quickly said.

‘Um it’s fine,’ Mark replied with an awkward smile, ‘Could I still stay over though? It’s pretty cold outside and I really don’t want to walk back home’. ‘Of course you can stay! You can take the bed, I’ll just take the couch,’ he replied to Mark, glad that Mark wasn’t too uncomfortable because of his remark earlier. ‘No! You take the bed, you’re Haechan’s guest. I don’t want to overstay my welcome, please just take the bed. Besides I’ve slept on the couch many times already so I’m fine with it,’ Mark replied.

Yukhei was lying in bed now and he couldn’t sleep. His tiredness from earlier was all gone now. All he could think about was what he said earlier to Mark. ‘Why did I have to say that. God, you’re so stupid Yukhei. Why couldn’t you just be like a normal person and not suggest to sleep with him. Maybe then, you could have made a new friend,’ he thought to himself. This went on for almost an hour. Goodbye to his early night in.

Suddenly, he was snapped out of his thoughts by a faint knock on the door. ‘Yukhei, are you still awake?’ Mark whispered, whilst slowly opening the door. ‘Hey Mark, what’s up?’ he replied. ‘It’s just that I couldn’t sleep because I kept thinking about what you said earlier. Is that offer still up?’ Mark said, scratching the back of his head and not meeting his gaze. He couldn’t believe his ears. The cute and beautiful boy was actually into guys and was taking him up on his offer. He wasted no time and quickly walked over to Mark who was now standing in the doorway. He cupped Mark’s face and engulfed him into a passionate kiss. Mark was surprised by the sudden kiss, but quickly caught up and wrapped his arms around Yukhei’s neck. ‘Are you sure about this?’ he asked Mark, who eagerly nodded. This was all the confirmation he needed before he stripped Mark from all his clothes and carried him to the bed.


	3. Part III

_20 December 2020 - Guildford, England_

It was currently 8:30am and Yukhei was awakened by the faint sun rays shining through the window and the sound of chirping birds. When he looked over to his left, he was greeted by the beautiful sight of the sleeping boy he met only yesterday. Mark was snoring softly and the sun shone at just the right angle on his face making him look even more ethereal than he already did. Yukhei reached over to gently remove a pluck of hair falling over Mark’s eyes. ‘I wouldn’t mind waking up to this sight more often,’ he thought whilst still staring down at the boy. After a great twenty minutes of staring at Mark, he decided to get up to wash himself and make some breakfast for the two of them to enjoy.

After just a little over an hour, he was finally finished with making breakfast for the pair. He decided to make some pancakes and prepared some fruit as an extra. Just as he was about to wake Mark up, he heard someone entering the kitchen. ‘Good morning, sleepyhead,’ he said with a big smile to the boy, who was obviously still very tired. ‘Morning, Yukhei. Are you always this cheery in the mornings?’ Mark mumbled, whilst rubbing his eyes. ‘Only when in the presence of people I like. I prepared us some breakfast,’ he grinned. He quickly grabbed some plates and cutlery and put them on the round dining table. ‘I hope you like pancakes,’ he remarked, at which Mark lighted up. ‘Oh my god, I love pancakes. Thank you, Yukhei. It smells amazing,’

For the next two hours, the boys sat there, enjoying breakfast and talking about anything and everything. They talked about their jobs, their hobbies, their friends and families, their hometowns and so on. It was the easiest conversation Yukhei had in a long time with someone other than his close friends or family. It was rare for him to actually click this well and this soon with someone who was still practically a stranger to him. Something still bothered him though. He couldn’t help but think that this was not how he wanted it to go. If he actually wanted to pursue something - not just a relationship, but a friendship as well - with Mark, he wanted to do it the right way.

‘Hey Mark, I actually wanted to talk to you about something,’ he started off, continuing when the other boy nodded at him with his big doe eyes. ‘Last night was amazing, Mark. Unexpected sure, but definitely amazing. I just want you to know that I’m usually not like this with people I just meet. I don’t know what came over me yesterday, but I want to do this the right way. I know this might sound crazy, since we’ve just met yesterday, but I think I really like you and I would like to see where this goes. So if you let me, I would like to do this properly. Can we maybe start again?’ he said, all in one breath. 

The boy in front of him was staring at him with surprise in his eyes, most likely not expecting to hear that. After the longest minute of silence and staring, Mark bursted into small, soft giggles. He didn’t know how to react to that. Out of everything he expected, it definitely was not that. What were those giggles supposed to mean? Were they good giggles? Were they nervous giggles? Were they ‘I can’t believe you’re thinking this was more than just a one-night-stand for me’ giggles?

Just as he was about to ask Mark for his answer, the other boy started to speak. ‘I’m sorry for that. It’s just that I was definitely not expecting you to like me in that way. I for sure thought that this would be just some one-night-stand for you and that we would never see or hear of each other again. I mean look at you, you look like some Greek god or something. And as much as I would love to start over and see where this goes, I’m not so sure if that is a good idea. I mean you’re still leaving after two weeks and I’ll be staying here in England. What happens after those two weeks? You get what I mean?’ Mark answered.

He knew that Mark was right. After two weeks, he would be back in NYC and Mark would be staying here in England. They both obviously had their own lives. Catching feelings for each other and getting involved wouldn’t be the best idea. But, still he couldn’t help thinking that there’s no harm in trying and seeing how this would unfold. He always believed that life was too short to live in fear and uncertainties, you had to take risks and jump into the unknown sometimes. This was also the main reason why he ended up in the modelling industry. So he voiced out his thoughts, hoping that Mark would agree with trying and just seeing where those two weeks would lead them. And so he did, courtesy of Yukhei’s fantastic ability to convince literally everyone.

Even though Mark agreed with his proposal, Mark believed that they had to set some rules. And to be fair, he fully agreed. It was important to know and respect each other’s boundaries. Firstly, they agreed that this was a two week thing only. Meaning that after the two weeks were over, they would not expect the other to either stay in England or move to America.

Second, they agreed that they would equally split the costs of their dates. At first he had declined, arguing that he convinced Mark to do this so it was only fair that he paid for their dates. Mark was insistent though, not wanting the other boy to pay for everything. They argued for over ten minutes about this matter. However, after Mark threatened to not go through with the whole proposal, he had no choice but to give in.

And lastly, they agreed to still keep the more ‘physical parts’ of relationships as well. Even though he was a little skeptical about this, considering that he wanted to approach this the more traditional way - meaning that he didn’t want to sleep with the other person until at least the third or fourth date - their time limit didn’t really offer them much leeway. And based on last night, the sex was definitely mind-blowing. He surely didn’t want to miss out on that.

‘Does this mean I can kiss you whenever I want?’ he asked. Mark nodded while he started giggling - damn those cute giggles. ‘Good cause I’ve been wanting to do this since you stepped foot into the kitchen earlier,’ he said before the leaned in to slot their lips together. Their kiss was different than from last night. This one was gentler and much more intimate compared to those impatient, hungry kisses they shared last night.

After they broke their kiss, Mark started speaking up. ‘I should really go now, I’m meeting up with a friend later’. He nodded, even though he really wanted Mark to stay here with him. ‘Yeah of course. I’ll pick you up tomorrow for our date,’ he replied with the biggest grin.

* * *

_20 December 2020 - New York City, America_

It was currently 9am. He usually never woke up this early on his days off, but his jetlag combined with the sound of the notorious New York traffic and his face being licked all over by Bella caused him to stir awake. He figured that since he was awake already and would probably not be able to get back to sleep, it would be a great plan to do some sightseeing. He only had two weeks in New York so he might as well make the best out of it.

The first thing he did was to check his phone. He had a dozen new messages from Mark and some of his other friends. Most of those messages were just them wishing him a nice time in New York and telling him to be safe. After he replied to all the messages and checked his emails, he decided it was time to get ready and have some breakfast.

Luckily for him, Yukhei’s kitchen was filled to the max. Literally anything he could wish for, was in either the pantry or the fridge. It was truly a miracle that he got his house swapped with someone who lived in an apartment that looked like it came straight out of a Hollywood movie. He decided some French toast would be a good breakfast for today, so he grabbed all the ingredients he needed. He also made sure to feed Bella’s bowls with the dog-food he saw in one of the cabinets.

It was nearing 11:30am now. He took a little longer to get ready and eat breakfast than he expected, but when did he not. Just when he was about to leave, he suddenly heard something in the hallway. ‘Maybe it’s Edward. But that would be odd, since I didn’t even text or call him,’ he thought. Just to be sure, he grabbed the heaviest thing near him and quietly tiptoed towards the hallway. When he was just in front of the door leading towards the hallway, it suddenly opened.

‘AAAAHHHH. WHO ARE YOU,’ the stranger screamed out loud, causing him to flinch. At this sound, Bella came running, but instead of barking at the stranger, she actually ran up towards him and started rubbing her head softly against his leg.

‘AAAHHH. BELLA ATTACK HIM!’ he screamed, before adding ‘I KNOW KARATE, SO YOU BETTER LEAVE THE APARTMENT BEFORE I KICK YOUR ASS. I WILL CALL THE POLICE. THERE ARE CAMERAS IN THIS BUILDING SO THEY FOR SURE WILL CATCH YOU!!!’

‘What the fuck? I’m the one who should be calling the police!! Who the hell are you and what are you doing in my brother’s apartment?’ the boy replied, whilst holding Bella in his arms.

‘Wait, what? Are you Yukhei’s brother? I’m Haechan. I swapped houses with your brother for two weeks. I know it sounds weird, but basically he’s staying at my house while I stay at his,’ he explained, now in a much calmer voice. 

‘What the fuck? Why didn’t he tell me that someone else was going to stay here. He only told me that he would be out of town for two weeks. I figured it would probably have to do with some modelling gig. So, since he would be away, I thought why not stay in his apartment. I usually do that when he isn’t here, his place is much better than mine plus it’s really close to everything. Oh, and I’m Yangyang by the way. You can put the lamp away now,’ Yangyang said with a small smile.

‘Um sorry haha,’ he said before putting the lamp away. ‘It probably slipped his mind to tell you that someone else would be staying at his apartment. I mean we only decided it just a few days ago, it was pretty unexpected,’ he added.

‘Typical Yukhei. I mean I can’t blame him though, his life is so hectic. I would probably lose my mind if that were my life. Anyways, I should probably get going. Don’t want to interrupt your vacation,’ Yangyang said, putting Bella back on the floor.

‘Wait! You can stay here if you want. I mean I was just about to leave so you can just stay at the apartment without me bothering you,’

‘Are you sure? I really don’t mind leaving though. I could always find something else to do. There is always something to do here,’ Yangyang replied.

‘Yeah of course! Or maybe, if you don’t mind of course, you could come with me? I always preferred to travel with some company. Besides what better way to explore New York than with a local, right? You don’t have to say yes if you don’t want to though!’ he said, still secretly hoping that Yangyang would agree to come with him. No matter how much he tried to convince himself that it’s nice to travel alone, it still made him a little nervous to go explore this big city all by himself. On top of that, the boy in front of him seemed nice enough.

‘Sure! I would like that. I would probably be playing call off duty the whole day otherwise. Showing you around New York sounds a lot more fun than that. Are there any specific places you want to visit? We could start there and move from those places,’ Yangyang said.

‘Um not really. Just those standard touristy places, you know? Like Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Rockefeller Centre, Metropolitan Museum et cetera. I’ve never been to New York before, so I definitely want to see some of those and just snap some pictures of them. For the rest, you can surprise me! Show me what the hidden spots are that only locals can know off,’ he replied.

‘Okay, so how about we visit those touristy places first and I can show you some smaller spots some other day? It’s a pretty sunny day today, so I guess we could go and visit the Statue of Liberty. We could also visit a lot of those touristy places on our way there. Rockefeller Center, the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, Flatiron Building are all pretty close to each other. Oh and there is a pretty nice place in Chinatown that I know so we could have some food there,’ Yangyang said excitedly.

‘Sounds fantastic! Should we call Edward to drive us? He gave me his number yesterday,’ he said, searching for the business card in his bag.

‘No, it’s fine. I could drive us around in my car. We should let that man rest, he has to match Yukhei’s hectic schedule so he definitely deserves to have some time off,’ Yangyang replied.

After not even 10 minutes driving, they stopped near the Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. It looked even better in person than on the photos. Having Yangyang with him was great for one more reason; having pictures of himself together with those building instead of pictures of _only_ those buildings. They spend the rest of their day like that, driving around to well-known touristy places and taking pictures of and with them. He definitely had a great time, enjoying his day with Yangyang. They matched really well with each other. Their humor was one the same level, they both had similar interests, their music taste was very similar, and moreover, their energy matched each other’s perfectly. It was great and he couldn’t help but think that this might be the best vacation he had in a long time. 


End file.
